Maybe Brainiac's Aren't All That Bad
by littlemonalisaliar
Summary: Erin Harley is seen as a Brainiac. She barely has a friend to name and always has too much on her mind to think about anything other than school. So if she's such a Brainiac how did she end up getting a Saturday detention served by Vernon? Read and find out! Yeah, it's another OCxBender story, but read anyway! Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**Yeah, yeah, this is a Bender/OC story. Why? BECAUSE I WANT TO! And Bender is really cute. I considered this to be a Brian/OC but I don't want a nerd falling for a nerd, ya know? I don't own the Breakfast Club, though I wish I did! **

**Maybe Brainiac's Aren't All That Bad – Chapter 1**

** Claire- **

"I can't believe you can't get me out of this. I mean, it's so absurd that I have to be here on a Saturday! It's not like I'm a defective or anything..."

"I'll make it up to you. Honey, ditching class to go shopping doesn't make you a defective. Have a good day."

**Brian-**

"Is this the first time or the last time we do this?"

"Last..."

"Well, get in there and use the time to your advantage."

"Mom, we're not supposed to study; we just have to sit there and do nothing."

"Well, mister, you figure out a way to study."

"Yeah!"

"Well, go!"

**Andrew-**

"Hey, I screwed around... guys screw around, there's nothing wrong with that. Except you got caught, Sport."

"Yeah, Mom already reamed me, alright?"

"You wanna miss a match? You wanna blow your ride? Now, no school's gonna give a scholarship to a discipline case."

**Erin-**

"This just isn't like you, Erin... Is it me? Have I been coming home too late? Because if that's the case I can talk to my boss and-"

"No, Dad." Erin turned and looked at her father. He was a wiry man of 42 with black hair sprinkled with gray around his ears and the back of his neck. Erin smiled up at him. He was a hard working man who already had enough on his mind. He didn't need Erin to add to it. "I'm fine. I know you're working hard to take care of mom so, keep doing that. This is a one time thing. I promise."

Erin's father smiled down at his daughter. He knew she was telling the truth and was happy she understood why he was working so late. "All right, sweetie. Don't spend all your time in there studying either. I know you're working hard for that scholarship but at least find a book and take a break, yeah?" Erin shrugged. Her father pulled her into a hug and kissed her head through her hair. "Bye, Sweetie."

"Bye, Dad." Erin shouldered her backpack and stepped out of the green car. She shut the door and as a gust of the fall wind blew by she rubbed her arms. It was pretty cold out and even though Erin was wearing a parka she could still feel the chill air as it pressed in all around her. She jumped a little at the screech of tires and turned around to see none other than John Bender walking past a black car that had just nearly avoided running him over. Erin's glasses fogged up as her cheeks and forehead grew warm. She whipped around and began speed walking up the steps of the school so Bender couldn't see her blush.

Erin walked into the Library to find two out of the six tables already filled. She stopped at the Library's checkout table and hesitated to sit as she scanned the area.

The Prom Queen herself (much to Erin's shock) is sitting at the front table on Erin's left. Andrew, The Star of the Wrestling team, is sitting in the chair next to her (less to Erin's shock). Brian, the Nerd of the school, other than Erin, is sitting at the table behind them. Erin stepped forward to choose her seat but stopped with a tiny gasp as John Bender walked by her. Touching everything on the checkout table and then taking something.

"You know, you really shouldn't-"

Bender whipped around. He pointed at her as he continued walking backward and only said, "Nerd." Erin's mouth clamped shut and Bender whipped back around. Erin fumed but kept her eyes on the Criminal as he walked up to Brian and pointed to the table opposite them. Brian gathered up his stuff and moved over to the table Bender had been pointing at.

A breeze flew by Erin and she stopped short again as a black blur whizzed past her and sat down in the way back seat on Erin's right, just behind Brian.

Erin's face burned as she realized everyone was staring at her. She bent her head, pushed her glasses up on her nose, and shuffled to the front seat opposite Andrew and Claire.

A few seconds later Principle Vernon entered holding a stack of papers and a bundle of pencils in one hand. "Well, well... Here we are. I want to congratulate you for being here on time-"

"Excuse me, sir?" Erin turned her attention from Mr. Vernon to Claire. "I think there's been a mistake. I know it's detention, but... um... I don't think I belong in _here_."

Mr. Vernon eyed her a moment before raising his wrist to his eye level to check his watch. "It is now seven-oh-six. You have exactly eight hours and fifty four minutes to think about why you're here. To ponder the error of your ways..."

Erin's head snapped to the left as she heard someone spit. Of course it had been Bender, hocking a loogie into the air and then catching it again in his mouth once it came back down. **(I actually gagged while writing that.)**

"...and you may not talk." Vernon pointed at Claire. "You will not study." Vernon pointed at Erin and her happiness plummeted. A whole eight hours to study for the upcoming finals? She must have been in heaven! Turns out she was really only in hell. "You will not move from these seats." Vernon pointed at Brian and he sat back in his original spot. Erin watched closely as Vernon pointed and began walking over to Bender. "...and you..." Vernon pulled out the chair Bender was using as a foot rest from under his feet. "Will not sleep." Vernon looked around a moment. "Alright people, we're gonna try something a little different today. We are going to write an essay, of no less than a thousand words, describing to me who you think you are."

"Is this a test?" Bender asked.

Vernon passed around paper and pencils and ignored Benders question. "And when I say essay, I mean essay. I do not mean a single word repeated a thousand times. Is that clear, Mr. Bender?"

Erin snuck a glance over at John as he picked at his jacket, not looking at Mr. Vernon. "Crystal..." He sounded bored. His eyes flicked up to meet Erin's. She gasped and focused on Mr. Vernon's words.

"Good. Maybe you'll learn a little something about yourself. Maybe you'll even decide whether or not you care to return."

Erin and Brian both raised their hands and stood in unison. Unaware that either of them were doing the same thing until they each started talking.

"You know, I can answer..."

"Mr. Vernon, sir, I can tell you..."

Erin turned around and gave Brian a wide-eyed look. Brian could only stare back.

"Sit down, Johnson. You too, Harley."

Erin blushed at the use of her last name and sat.

"Thank you, sir..." Brian mumbled as he sat down.

"My office is right across that hall. Any monkey business is ill-advised. Any questions?"

Erin shook her head quickly while Bender spoke up. "Yeah, I got a question." A beat. Erin turned to watch him. "Does Barry Manilow know you raid his wardrobe?" Erin had to clamp her hand over her mouth to stifle her giggle.

Vernon glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and because he was embarrassed answered John, "I'll give you the answer to that question, Mr. Bender, next Saturday. Don't mess with the bull young man, you'll get the horns."

Vernon turned around and left. His leather shoes squeaking as he went.

"That man... is a brownie-hound.

Erin turned to face Bender. "Brownie-hound?" Erin asked, much to her own surprise that she was able to utter even one word to the boy she'd had a crush on since Sophomore year.

"Jeez, Nerd. Do you know anything other than Chemistry and Mathematics?" Bender asked.

Erin's face went red with anger and embarrassment and she whipped back around to face forward. Much to her disdain she heard Bender's deep-throated chuckles and Erin's heart tugged.

Suddenly a loud cracking sound filled the room. Everyone turned to the source to find Allison biting away at her fingernails. Erin had honestly forgotten she was there at all because she had been so quiet.

"You keep eating your hand and you're not gonna be hungry for lunch..." Allison leaned toward Bender and spit her nail bits at him. "I've seen you before, you know..." John pointed at Allison, ignoring her previous action.

Erin turned around and saw Vernon poking his head to look into the Library from his office. She immediately wrote down the required format to begin writing her paper. Once that was finished she paused, not really knowing how to continue.

As if voicing her own thoughts aloud she heard Brian mumbling to himself behind her, "Who do I think I am? Who are you? Who are you?... I am a walrus." Erin smiled to herself. She couldn't lie and say that she had not at one point had a crush on Brian Johnson during Junior year. He had his moments of cuteness and this just happened to be one of them. She turned around and saw him with his pen in his mouth. The top part going up his nose slightly. She giggled a bit and his eyes went wide once the both of theirs met. She glanced over at John Bender and Brian tilted his head a bit. Erin turned around.

A nervous laugh. A pause. Some ruffling. A sound like a puff of air into cupped hands. Another pause.

"It's the shits, huh?" Another nervous laugh.

Erin once again tried to think of what to write for her paper but stopped when she heard a crumpling sound. She turned her head a bit and watched as a balled up piece of paper flew between Claire and Andrew. The two glanced at each other but didn't say a word. Erin knew it had come from Bender (who else would it have been really?) and listened as he began singing the guitar part of a song.

"I can't believe this is really happening to me..." Claire sighed dramatically and Erin was confused. It's only an eight hour detention. What was so bad-

"Oh, shit!" Erin's head snapped at the use of vulgar language. "What're we supposed to do if we have to take a piss?"

"Um..." Erin started, wanting to give an answer to her crush.

"Please..." Claire rolled her eyes in disgust.

Bender shrugged and put his chest to the tables edge. "If you gotta go..." Bender unzipped his fly. "You gotta go."

Claire whipped back around, not wanting to see anything. "Oh, my god!"

"Hey, you're not urinating in here, man!" Andrew Clark shouted at the Criminal behind him. This was the first thing he'd said all day and Erin was surprised that he already sounded so angry.

"Don't talk! Don't talk, it makes it crawl back up."

"You whip it out and you're dead before the first drop hits the floor."

"Ooo, you're pretty sexy when you get angry... grr! Hey, homeboy..." Erin turned to see John was talking to Brian. "Why don't you go close that door. We'll get the Prom Queen impregnated... Maybe even the little mousy, Brainie girl over there, too." Erin's eyes widened at John Benders smirking face. He licked his lips and blew a kiss at her.

"Hey!" Andrew shouted but Bender ignored him. Still staring and smirking at a fuming Erin who was flattered, flustered, angry and baffled all at the same time. "Hey!" Andrew yelled again.

Bender broke his gaze from Erin and looked to Andrew. "What?"

"If I lose my temper, you're totaled man!"

"Totally?" Bender asked, his tone of voice changing.

"Totally."

"Why don't you just shut up! Nobody here is interested." Claire told John.

John rolled his head over to look at Erin. "Are you interested, Brainie?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm interested in writing my paper." Erin desperately groaned.

"Really!" Andrew sighed, then mumbled. "Buttface."

John snapped his head to Andrew. "Well, hey, Sporto! What'd you do to get in here? Forget to wash your jock?"

"Uh, excuse me, fellas, I think we should just write our papers." Brian cut in.

"Look, just because you live in here doesn't give you the right to be a pain in the ass. So, knock it off!" Andrew yelled.

Erin winced. This was getting uglier by the second.

John grunted and thought a moment. Nodding he reminded Andrew, "It's a free country."

Erin really only wanted to write her paper and get to studying. She also didn't want this confrontation to continue farther. "Um, hey, he's just trying to get you angry. Maybe it'd be best to just ignore him...?" Erin was hesitant to speak to Andrew. She was afraid he'd start yelling at her. He only nodded and looked down at his paper.

"Darling?" Erin turned, wondering who John was talking to and nearly fell out of her chair when she found he was staring at her. "You couldn't ignore me if you tried." His smirk was heartbreakingly handsome.

He was right but Erin refused to let him know that. Her body betrayed her mind of course as her face flushed. She whipped back around to face forward.

"So..." Erin bent low over her paper at the sound of John's voice. "So! Are you guys like boyfriend/girlfriend?" Erin assumed John was talking about Andrew and Claire and decided not to butt in. Though she could feel the tension building. "Steady dates? Lovers? Come on, Sporto. Level with me. Do you slip her the _hot-beef injection?" _

"GO TO HELL!"

"ENOUGH!"

Bender only chuckled, satisfied he'd made them angry.

"Hey! What's going on in there!" Erin panicked at the sound of Vernon's voice and wondered if he was going to come check on them.

After a minute of silence Erin was satisfied Vernon wasn't coming. "You guys, I really think we should focus on the assignment at hand..." She looked around at everyone and her eyes finally landed on John. He smirked at her and slowly stood.

_All I want to do is study..._


	2. Chapter 2

**Here I am with another chapter for you guys! Thank you to each and every one of you that is following or has favorited it, you have no idea how happy it made me when I saw. I'm hoping to update chapters every few days, I know it sucks when people take weeks to update in-between and I'm not going to do that. Again, thank you for following and favoriting, I love all of you!  
**

* * *

**Okay, onto the second chapter!**

**Maybe Brainiac's Aren't All That Bad – Chapter 2**

Erin watched Bender, even though he'd moved his gaze to the library door, as he made his way to the railing and jumped up on it to sit. "What do you say we close that door? We can't have any kind of party with Vernon checking us out every few seconds."

"Well, yeah, but the door's supposed to stay open." Brian reminded him.

"So, what?"

"So, why don't you just shut up?" Andrew shot at John. "There's five other people in here, you know."

"God, you can count! See, I knew you had to be smart to be a- a _wrestler_."

"Who the hell are you to judge anybody, anyway?"

"Really..." Claire agreed.

"Guys..." Erin mumbled in a pathetic attempt at trying to get everyone's attention. Andrew was only getting started.

"You know, Bender, you don't even count. You know, if you disappear forever it wouldn't make any difference. You may as well not even exist at this school."

"Whoa, wait, okay. That's a little uncalled for."

Andrew turned around to face Erin. "What was that, Brainiac?"

Erin didn't see John's smirk of gratitude as she was too busy staring wide-eyed at the jock that was looking at her, waiting for an answer.

Erin licked her dry lips. "I-I just don't think you have the right to say somebody hardly even exists. How does your life have any better value over his?"

"I actually contribute to this school. All Bender over here does is clog the system up with his constant detentions and bad attitude."

"Well, I'll just run right out and join the wrestling team." John smiled, covering up the actual hurt he felt from Andrew's words. Claire and Andrew chuckled at each other. "Maybe the Prep Club, too. Student council."

"Nah, they wouldn't take you." Andrew told Bender.

"I'm hurt."

"You know why guy's like you knock everything?"

"Oh, this should be stunning."

"It's cause you're afraid." Claire continued.

"Oh, God. You richies are so smart. That's exactly why I'm not heavy in any activities!"

"You're a big coward."

"I'm in the math club."

Erin turned around to look at Brian. 'Don't.' She mouthed to him.

"See, you're afraid they won't take you. You don't belong so you just have to dump all over it."

John looked away and took a deep breath. "Well... it wouldn't have anything to do with you activities people being _assholes _now, would it?"

"Well, you wouldn't know. You don't even know any of us."

"Well, I don't know any lepers either. But I'm not gonna run out and join one of their fucking clubs."

"Hey, let's watch the mouth, huh?" Andrew cut in. Erin gave a slight nod in agreement. She didn't enjoy it when people used vulgar language around her. It made her feel unsafe.

"I'm in the Physics club, too."

"Brian..." Erin groaned. She didn't want to see one of her club friends get hurt.

"Excuse me a sec. What are you babbling about?" Bender asked Brian.

"Well, what I'd said was, I'm in the Math Club, uh, the Latin club and the Physics club- Physics Club."

"Hey, Brainie." Erin looked up at the assumption John was talking to her and immediately regretted it. Answering to the nickname means you accepted it. Erin did not want to accept 'Brainie' or 'Brainiac' as her nickname. "Are you in any clubs?"

Erin nodded. "I'm in the Latin Club and the Physics Club." Why lie? There was nothing to be ashamed of... At least not in Erin's eyes...

"What about you. Cherry. Do you belong to the Physics Club?"

Claire sneered and said, "That's an academic club."

"So?"

The redhead thought a moment. "So, Academic Clubs aren't the same as other kinds of Clubs."

"Ahh... but to Dorks like them, they are." John looked up at Erin. "What do you guys do in your Club?"

"In Physics well we-we-" Brian started.

"Hey! I was talking to the Lady." John yelled at Brian then he looked at Erin and gestured for her to talk to him.

She blushed heavily and stumbled over her words. "Well- Well in Physics we um, we um talk about Physics. Properties of Physics..."

"So it's sort of social. Demented and sad. But social, right?"

"Well, yeah. I guess you could consider it a social situation. I mean, there's other people in the club and um, at the end we have, uh, a big b-banquet at the Hilton."

"You load up. You party."

"Well, no. We get _dressed up_. But we don't... we don't get _high_..."

"Only burners like you get high." Claire told John.

Brian went into a story about last year when he went to the party in his dads shoes. Erin remembered that but couldn't concentrate on the memory as she was frozen with fear at the fact that John Bender was staring at her with a tiny smirk._ Why is he staring at me so much? Do I have something on my face? No, don't check! It'll seem weird! Just stare at him. Oh, God. You're blushing again. Look at his smile get bigger! You are a lost cause, girl!_

"Sounds like you..." Erin was ripped from her tiny inner monologue by Claire's voice.

"Look, you guys keep up your talking and Vernon's gonna come right in here. I got a meet this Saturday and I'm not gonna miss it on account of you boneheads!"

Bender moaned in fake agony. "Oh, and wouldn't that be a bite, huh? Missing a whole wrestling meet?"

"Well, you wouldn't know anything about it, faggot!"

Erin winced.

"You never competed in your whole life!"

John pouted. "Oh, I know... I feel all empty inside because of it. I have such a deep admiration for guys that roll around on the floor with other guys!"

"Ahh, you'd never miss it. You don't have any goals."

Erin gaped at Andrew angrily.

"Oh, but I do!" Bender admitted, seeing the look on Erin's face.

"Yeah?" Andrew asked, disbelieving the Criminal.

"I wanna be just. Like. You! I figure all I need's a lobotomy and some tights!"

"You wear tights?" Brian asked.

Andrew turned around to face Brian. "No, I don't wear tights. I wear the required uniform."

"Tights." Brian smugly answered with a shrug.

"Shut up!" Andrew shouted.

Loud shuffling sounds came from across the hall and Bender sat down in between the richies, looking innocent. Erin watched as Vernon left his office and went down the hall.

"Woo!" Bender shouted and stood up.

He began walking toward the double doors when Brian called out, " You know there's not supposed to be any monkey business."

Bender whipped around and pointed at Brian while still walking backwards. Mimicking Mr. Vernon he shouted, "Young man, have you finished your paper?" He whipped back around and went to the double doors. He peaked down the halls on either side of the door and then started fiddling with the screw at the top that kept the door open.

"What are you gonna do?" Claire asked.

"Drop dead, I hope."

"John, come on. Leave the door alone." Erin begged.

"Worried I'll get in trouble, babe?" Bender winked at Erin and her face burned.

"Bender, that's- that's school property there... you know, it doesn't belong to us. It's something not to be toyed with!" Brian stammered.

The door slammed shut and Bender ran up to Erin's desk.

"No, no, no." She knew what was coming. John Bender grabbed one of Erin's hands and pressed the screw into it. "No, no! I don't-!" John leaned forward and gave Erin a kiss on her cheek.

"For safe keeping." He whispered to her.

Erin's face was beet red and John's broke out in a huge grin when he saw her reaction. He gave her hand a final squeeze and ran back to his seat. Erin held up the screw like it was an alien life form.

"John, take it back!" She shouted.

"I told you to keep it!"

"But, I don't want it!" Erin hysterically yelled back.

"That's very funny, come on, fix it!" Andrew told Bender.

"You should really fix that!"

The whole room became a shouting mess of yells from Erin, Bender, Andrew and Brian; arguing over the door.

"God damnit!" Erin jumped at Vernon's yell and thrust the screw under her skirt and in between her thighs. Vernon threw open the door and stormed into the Library, steaming with anger. "Why is that door closed?" He finally asked as he pointed behind him at the door.

Silence.

"Why is that door closed?" He tried again.

"How're we supposed to know? We're not supposed to move right?" Bender innocently asked.

Vernon turned on Erin. "Why is it closed?"

Erin stammered, "I-I-I've only been sitting here working on my paper, s-sir."

Vernon moved over to the richies table. "Why?" he asked Claire.

"We were just sitting here, like we were supposed to." She answered.

Vernon looked up at Bender. "Who closed that door?"

"I think a screw fell out of it."

"It just closed, sir." Andrew backed Bender up.

Vernon looked over at Allison. "Who?"

Allison stammered and could only let out a squeak before she slammed her head down on the table.

"She doesn't talk, sir." Bender told Vernon.

Vernon walked up to Bender with his hand held out. "Give me that screw."

"I don't have it." Bender glanced at Erin for a split second and she flinched.

Vernon turned on his heel to face Erin. "Do you have it?"

"N-No, sir."

Vernon eyed Erin a moment before turning back to Bender.

"You want me to yank you outta that seat and shake it out of you?"

"I don't have it. Screws fall out all of the time, the worlds an imperfect place."

"Give it to me, Bender."

"Excuse me, sir, why would anybody want to steal a screw?" Claire asked.

Vernon pointed at her, "Watch it, young lady."

Vernon walked to the door and tried to hold it open with a folding chair. John warned him but of course the door slammed shut on it. Vernon came back in and called Andrew up to help him move the magazine rack to hold open the door.

"Hey, how come Andrew gets to get up? If he gets up, we'll all get up! It'll be anarchy!" **(favorite line I had to put it in there) **Bender shouted. "It's out of my hands..."

Vernon and Andrew somehow got the the magazine rack to hold open the door. Bender told Vernon it was a good idea but asked what would happen in the event of a fire. Vernon thought about it and then told Andrew to get the magazine rack back to it's original spot. Brian reminded John that the Library came with two fire exits but John told Brian to 'show Dick some respect.' Vernon pushed Andrew back to his seat.

"You're not fooling anybody, Bender. The next screw that falls out is gonna be you!" Vernon turned around to leave and Erin thought she was safe until, yes, Bender spoke out.

"Eat my shorts..."

Vernon spun around. "What was that?"

Bender looked Vernon in the eye and boldly said, "Eat. My. Shorts."

"You just bought yourself another Saturday, mister!"

"Oh, Christ..."

"You just bought one more right there!"

"Well, I'm free the Saturday after that... beyond that, I'm gonna have to check my calender!"

"Good! 'Cause it's gonna be filled, we'll keep going! You want another one? Say the word, just say the word! Instead of going to prison, you'll come here! Are you through?"

Erin was getting worried. The tension in the room between the two of them was burning. John already had so many detentions! Why was he adding to the list?

"No!"

"I'm doing society a favor!"

_What a jerk!_

"So?!"

"That's another one, right now! I've got you for the rest of your natural-born life if you don't watch your step! You want another one?"

"Yes!"

"You got it! You got another one, right there! That's another one, pal!"

"John!" Erin desperately cried out. Bender tilted his head to look at her. 'Please. Stop.' She mouthed to him.

"You through?" Vernon asked.

"Not. Even. Close. Bud!"

"Good! You got one more, right there!"

"Do you really think I give a shit?"

"Another... You through?"

"How many is that?" Bender asked.

Brian answered, "That's seven including the one when we first came in and you asked Mr. Vernon here whether Barry Manilow knew that he raided his closet."

"Now, it's eight. You stay out of it!"

"Excuse me, sir, it's seven." Brian insisted.

"Shut up, Pee Wee!"

"Sir, I don't think you should be talking to students that way."

"Was it worth it, Harley? 'Cause you just bought yourself and Johnson another Saturday detention."

Erin's jaw hung open as Vernon turned back to Bender. "You're mine, Bender. For two months, I gotcha! I gotcha!"

"What can I say? I'm thrilled!"

"Oh, I'm sure that's exactly what you want these people to believe. You know something, Bender? You ought to spend a little more time trying to do something with yourself and a little less time trying to impress people. You might be better off." Erin watched Bender sadly as Vernon spoke up to everyone. "Alright, that's it! I'm going to be right outside those doors. The next time I have to come in here, I'm cracking skulls."

John mockingly mouthed along with Vernon his last three words. Erin rolled her eyes and turned away from him. When Vernon left John shouted "Fuck you!" making Erin jump.


	3. Chapter 3

**Happy Easter/420/Sunday, whatever you're celebrating! In honor of this day I figured I'd update again! Before I send you all off to read the next chapter I just want to give a huge thank you to the two beautiful souls that sent those nice reviews about my story. Reading your review made me so happy and I'm glad you like the story so far. Okay, that's all I had to say, thank you again!**

**Maybe Brainiac's Aren't All That Bad – Chapter Three**

A few minutes after Vernon had left Erin apologized to Brian for getting him another Saturday detention. He mumbled, "It's okay..." and only looked down at his paper. Erin sighed and tucked her arm under her head trying to think of what to write for her essay but, in actuality, she was slowly falling asleep...

"Wake up!" Erin flinched and slowly woke up. "Who has to go to the lavatory?" Immediately Erin raised her hand.

About 15 minutes later everyone was back in the Library. Erin was once again trying to work on her essay over the loud rips coming from John's destruction of a book. Her hand held her head up as she wrote.

"That's real intelligent." Andrew told him. Erin glanced up and saw that he was using the railing as a bar to stretch on. She caught John's eye and looked away quickly.

"You're right," John said as he tore more pages out. "It's wrong to destroy literature..." He tore more pages out. "It's such fun to read... and... Mo-lay really pumps my nads."

Erin realized who he meant and without looking up she corrected him. "Mol-yare."

John looked up at Erin and studied her with a flirtatious smirk. Sadly for Erin she didn't get to see. Claire on the other hand was giving her a dirty look for stealing what she was going to say. Erin didn't notice.

"I love his work." Brian said to fill the silence. John ripped a handful of pages out and whipped them at the Brain.

John picked up the card catalog and started rearranging things. "Big deal. Nothing to do when you're locked in a vacancy."

"Speak for yourself." Andrew mumbled.

John looked up. "Do you think I'd speak for you? I don't even know you're language."

Andrew gave John a look and turned to Claire. "Hey, you grounded tonight?" he asked her.

"I don't know, my mom said I was but my dad told me to just blow her off."

"Big party at Stubbies, parents are in Europe. Should be pretty wild."

"Yeah?" Claire asked.

"Yeah, can you go?"

"I doubt it."

"How come?"

"Well, cause if I do what my mother tells me to do it's because my father says it's okay. There's like this whole big monster deal. It's endless and it's a total drag. It's like any minute – divorce."

"Who do you like better?" John suddenly asked. Erin glanced up and then back down, not wanting to get into a discussion about parents.

"What?" Claire asked.

"You like your old man better than your mom?"

"They're both screwed."

"No, I mean, if you had to choose between them."

"I don't know, I'd probably go live with my brother. I mean, I don't think either one of them gives a shit about me. It's like they use me just to get back at each other."

"HA!"

Everyone whipped around to see Allison blowing her hair out of her face.

"Shut up!" Claire shouted at her.

"You're just feeling sorry for yourself." Andrew mumbled as Erin turned back to her essay.

"Yeah, well if I didn't nobody else would."

"Aw, you're breaking my heart." Andrew said sarcastically.

"Sporto." John said.

"What?"

Bender got down from the Librarian's desk. "You get along with your parents?"

"Well, if I say yes, I'm an idiot, right?"  
John jumped over the railing and stood in front of the jock. "You're an idiot, anyway. But if you say you get along with your parents, well, then you're a liar, too." Bender turned and walked away but Andrew pushed him.

"You know something, man... If we weren't in school right now, I'd waste you."

Bender pointed his middle finger at the ground. "Can you hear this?" He turned his hand up. "Want me to turn it up?"

Brian walked up to the two and put his hands on their shoulders. "Hey, fellas, I mean, I don't like my parents either I don't..." Andrew pushed past him. "I don't get along with them. Their idea of parental compassion is just, you know, wacko!"

Bender turned to Brian. "Dork,"

"Yeah?" Brian answered.

"You are a parents wet dream, okay?" He walked back over to Andrew to continue their earlier discussion.

"Well, that's the problem!" Brian said.

"Look, I can see you getting all bunged up for them making you wear these kinda clothes. But face it, you're a Neo-Maxi-Zoom-Dweebie. What would you be doing if you weren't out making yourself a better citizen?"  
"Why do you have to insult everybody?" Andrew asked him.

"I'm being honest, asshole. I would expect you to know the difference."

"Yeah, well, he's gotta name."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. What's your name?" Andrew asked Brian.

"Brian."

"See?" Andrew asked John.

"My condolences..." John said to Brian and walked away.

"What's your name?" Claire asked John.

"You didn't hear Brainie earlier?" John pointed his thumb out at Erin and she blushed. "What's yours?"

"Claire..."

"Ka-Laire?"

"Claire. It's a family name."

"No... it's a fat girls name."

"Hey, John. Maybe you shouldn't-" Claire shot Erin a look and Erin snapped her mouth shut. John looked at Claire with distaste and Claire looked back up at him.

"Thank you, but I'm not fat."

"Well, not at present but I could see you really pushing maximum density. You see, I'm not sure if you know this but there are two kinds of fat people. There's fat people that were born to be fat, and then there's fat people that were once thin but they became fat. So, when you look at them you can sorta see that thin person inside. You see, you're gonna get married, you're gonna squeeze out a few puppies and then..." he mimed getting fat and made noises in his throat.

Claire gave him a disgusted look and the finger.

"Oh... obscene finger gestures from such a pristine girl."

"I'm not that pristine..."

John gave her a look that said even she shouldn't believe that and waltzed over to Erin's table. Erin was so focused on her paper she didn't even see him walk over. Everyone watched as he stood over her and waited for her to realize he was there. After a minute he reached down and lifted her chin up so she was looking at him.

"What's your name?"

Erin blushed harshly at the contact and the look in John's eyes. "E-Erin."

"Erin." John repeated.

"W-Well..." John dropped his hand from Erin's chin. "My full name is Erinite. I was named after a-a jewel..."

John smiled at the girl staring up at him. "Dollface," He called her and leaned down to her on his palms. "Can I ask you a question?"

Erin nodded, figuring he was going to ask an academic question.

"Are you a virgin?"

Erin's face immediately grew rosy and her eyes widened. She looked down at the desk quickly. "I-I don't- I don't-"

John reached his hand out and lifted her head up with his finger again. "I'll bet you a million dollars that you are...!" He lured cheerily with a winning grin.

Erin maneuvered her head out of his grip and looked away. "I don't..."

John moved so he was in her line of vision. "Have you ever even kissed a boy before? On the mouth?" At this point Erin felt a strength in her rise up and she stared at John dead center in his eyes. "Have you ever been felt up... Over the bra... under the blouse... shoes off. Hoping to God your parents don't walk in?" Erin flinched and blinked quickly but kept her stare holding. John paused but kept going. "Over the panties, no bra, blouse unbuttoned, Calvin's in a ball on the front seat past eleven on a school night?"

"Leave her alone." Andrew said.

Erin didn't dare break her stare until Bender straightened up and stepped over the tables to get to Andrew.

"You gonna make me?" Bender asked.

"Yeah."

"You and how many of your friends?"

"Just me. Just you and me. Two hits. Me hitting you, you hitting the floor. Anytime you're ready, pal."

Erin quickly stood and ran up to the two boys. "Hey, I'm fine, okay?" She asked Andrew. Andrew glanced at her and then back up at John. "I'm fine, really." She insisted to John.

"I don't wanna get into this with you man..." John warned Andrew.

"Why not?" Andrew asked.

"Cause I'd kill you." John answered simply with a shrug. He turned and walked down the aisle and continued, "It's real simple. I'd kill you and your fucking parents would sue me and it would be a big mess and I don't care enough about you to bother."

Andrew scoffed and turned away. "Chicken shit..."

Erin's eyes widened at the switchblade John opened. He leaned over and stabbed it into the table Allison sat at.

"Let's end this right now. You don't talk to her, you don't look at her, you don't even think about her! You understand me?"

John looked up at the ceiling and tiredly answered, "I'm trying to help her."

"Maybe she doesn't need your help." Claire suggested. "None of us do."

Erin looked at John one last time and sat down at her desk. Unfortunately, he sat down right next to her. As time dragged on the room became quieter allowing Erin to think but not so much as she was able to write her essay.

A door opened upstairs and the janitor walked in. Erin quickly covered her head with her arms so she wouldn't be seen.

"Brian, how you doing?" She heard Carl ask. Erin grimaced at what the repercussions of that would be.

"Your dad work here?" She heard Bender ask. "Uh, Carl?"

"What?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"How does one become a janitor?"

"You wanna be a janitor?"

"No, I just wanna know how one becomes a janitor because Andrew here, is very interested in pursuing a career in the custodial arts."

"Oh, really? You guys think I'm some untouchable peasant, serf? Peon?" Erin rolled her eyes. Carl could get so dramatic. "Huh? Maybe so, but following a broom around after shitheads like you for the past eight years I've learned a couple of things. I look through your letters, I look through your lockers. I listen to your conversations, you don't know that but I do. I am the eyes and ears of this institution, my friends." Erin glanced up, thinking Carl was gone but quickly looked down again when she saw he wasn't. "Don't think I didn't see you Erin." The girl groaned and sat up with her head still down, hiding her red face. "By the way, that clocks twenty minutes fast."

John chuckled lightly and rubbed Erin's back in comfort. She twitched in surprise but soon leaned into his touch and whimpered lightly when he stopped. After awhile Erin finally abandoned her essay, realizing she wouldn't be able to get anything done since John's touch on her back sent her mind completely out of control.

John shuffled around and Erin glanced over at him. She giggled when she saw he was tying his scarf around his head. He gave her a smirk and a wink that only made her smile wider in response.

After awhile John stood making Erin look up at him. "Where are you going?" She asked.

John smiled. "Are you gonna miss me?" he asked. Erin huffed and looked away. John chuckled and moved over to her so he could make her look at him. "Vernon's gonna come in here any minute and, 'There's no moving from these seats.'" He quoted Vernon in his voice and smirked. "I'll be right over there, don't worry."

Erin scoffed and looked away again and John went to his seat.

After a few more minutes of silence Bender started to whistle a marching song. Soon everyone joined in. Once Vernon entered everyone stopped and John started whistling Beethoven's 5th.

"Alright, girls. That's thirty minutes for lunch."

"Here?" Andrew asked.

"Here." Vernon confirmed.

"Well, I think the cafeteria would be a more suitable place for us to eat lunch in, sir."

"Uh, Dick?" Bender asked and then corrected himself. "Excuse me, Rich... will milk be made available to us?"

"We're extremely thirsty, sir." Andrew told him.

"I have a very low tolerance for dehydration." Erin said.

"I've seen her dehydrate, sir. It's pretty gross." John said.

Erin cast a confused glance at John. He had never seen her dehydrate. She would never have let that happen.

John stood up. "Relax, I'll get it."

"Ah, ah, ah. Grab some wood there, bub!"

John sat down with a smirk.

"What do you think, I was born yesterday? You think I'm gonna have you roaming these halls?" Vernon pointed at Andrew. "You..." He glanced around and then pointed at Allison. "And you! Hey! What's her name? Wake her up! Wake her up! Come on, on your feet Missy! Let's go! This is no rest home!"

Allison stood up and followed Andrew out to the hallway. Vernon followed after them. "There's a soft drink machine in the teacher's lounge. Let's go!"

Once Vernon left the library Erin turned to John. "You've never seen me get dehydrated before."

"You weren't lying about that?" John asked with his eyebrows raised. "Looks like I saved your ass then, huh?"

"Yeah... thanks." Erin told him with a small smile.

"Could you be any more obvious?" Claire asked.

Erin looked up but John didn't take his eyes off of Erin.

"What do you mean?" Erin asked.

"You know exactly what I mean." Claire said and stood up. She began walking over to John and Erin's table. "Don't think I haven't seen those looks on your face."  
Erin quickly became nervous. Claire knew that she liked John.

As before Erin felt a strength rise up in her and she stood up. "I could say the same about you. Don't be fooled by these glasses, I can still see what's right in front of me."

Claire shook her head slowly and sat back down at her table. Erin watched her and then sat down herself, not looking at John.

John glanced between the two girls and then scooted close to Erin and whispered over her shoulder, "What was that about?"

"What do you think?" She hissed, not even affected by how close John was.

"I... have no idea." John admitted.

Erin turned around and looked at John in surprise. At least she was better at hiding her feelings from him than from everybody else.

"Well..." Erin slyly said. "I'm certainly not going to tell you."

Bender smirked and stood up from his seat. He walked over to where Brian was standing and looking at a book. Erin watched as John snatched a chair from a table and took the book from Brian's hand. John set the chair down and plopped into the seat. Brian sighed and jumped up on a shelf next to John to read the book over his shoulder.

Erin glanced over at Claire who was also watching John. Claire turned her head and gave Erin a sneer. Erin rolled her eyes and stood up to go look at the books and wait for Andrew and Allison to return.


	4. Chapter 4

**Ahhh! Okay, I don't mean to update so early but it just keeps happening! You all just make me want to update sooner and sooner! I won't be able to update tomorrow though because I'm gonna be busy so I'm sorry in advance for no update tomorrow. This story is gonna be short anyway and I do wanna space out the chapters. I had originally planned on updating once ever week like with my last fic (that is currently discontinued because I'm a bad writer) but all of this awesome feedback has made me update faster!**

**Okay, I'm babbling, just read the chapter!**

**Oh, hey Alle ;)**

**Maybe Brainiac's Aren't All That Bad – Chapter 4**

Soon, Claire followed and leaned against the hideous statue that stood in the middle of the library near where John and Brian were sitting. She was trying to give John a show by leaning on the statue provocatively but John only had eyes for Erin; who was silently studying the back of a book she was interested in.

"Claire..." John suddenly called out and took his eyes from Erin to land them on the redhead. "You wanna see a picture of a guy with Elephantitus of the nuts? It's pretty tasty..."

"No, thank you..." Claire answered.

Erin smirked and went back to her book.

"How do you think he rides a bike?" John continued as he had enjoyed Erin's smirk.

Claire rolled her eyes and began picking at her fingernails.

"Oh, Claire, would you ever consider dating a guy like this?"

"Can't you just leave me alone?" the princess whined out.

"I mean, if he had a great personality and was a good dancer and had a cool car- Although you'd probably have to ride in the back seat cause his nuts would ride shotgun."

"You know what I wish I was doing?" Claire asked not looking up at anybody. Erin walked over and stood on the other side of the statue to listen.

"Oh, watch what you say, Brian here is a cherry."

"A cherry?" Brian asked.

"I wish I was on a plane to France..." Claire continued.

"I'm not a cherry." Brian told John.

"When have you ever gotten laid?" John asked.

"I've laid lots of times."

"Name one."

"She lives in Canada." Brian answered with a shrug. "Met her at Niagara Falls. You wouldn't know her."

"Ever laid anyone around here?" John asked, pretending to not be interested as he flipped through the book he held. Unknown to anyone that he snuck a glance at Erin who was now reading the book she had been studying earlier. When Brian didn't answer John looked up. Brian shushed Bender and pointed to Claire. A flood of relief washed through him as he was confirmed that Brian and Erin hadn't done anything together. "Oh, you and Claire did it!" he announced happily.

Erin and Claire quickly looked up. "What are you talking about?" Claire asked.

"Nothing, nothing." Brian told the redhead. "Let's just drop it, we'll talk about it later." he promised John.

"No! Drop what, what are you talking about?"

"Well, Brian's trying to tell me that in addition to the number of girls in the Niagara Falls area, that presently you and he are riding the hobby horse." John happily answered her.

"Little pig." Claire sneered at the Brain.

"No, I'm not! John said I was a cherry and I said I wasn't, that's it, that's all that was said." Brian tried to tell her.

"Well, what were you motioning to Claire for?" John asked.

"You know, I don't appreciate this very much, Brian." Claire told him.

"He is lying!" Brian said.

"Oh, you weren't motioning to Claire?" John asked him. Then his gaze flicked up to Erin. "Wasn't he motioning to Claire, Dollface?"

Claire whipped around to stare at Erin. The girl backed away in fright and stuttered, "I-I-I didn't see, I was r-reading."

John could only smirk at how cute Erin was when she was visibly nervous.

"You know he's lying right?" Brian asked Claire.

"Were you or were you not motioning to Claire?"

Finally Brian admitted defeat. "Yeah, but it was only... was only because I didn't want her to know that I was a virgin, okay?"

Everyone could only stare in silence.

"Excuse me for being a virgin, I'm sorry..."

Claire laughed. "Why didn't you want me to know you were a virgin?"

"Because it's personal business. It's my personal, private business." Brian told her, becoming guarded.

"Well, Brian, it doesn't sound like you're doing any business." John said.

"I think it's okay for a guy to be a virgin."

Brian looked at her with surprise. "You do?"

Claire beamed and nodded.

Erin watched with a small smile as Brian and Claire watched each other with smiles of their own.

Not soon after, Allison and Andrew had returned with the Cokes. Everyone returned to their seats and began preparing for lunch.

Bender sat behind Claire and Andrew as Claire began taking out her food. She pulled out a container from a shopping bag. "What's in there?" John asked.

"Guess. Where's your lunch?" She asked back.

John turned a sly smile to Erin and answered, "Erin's wearing it."

Erin blushed but didn't turn toward the boy.

"You're nauseating..." Claire sighed.

Bender smirked and grabbed a Coke. He threw it overhead to Allison who caught it without even looking up.

Bender watched again as Claire began setting up a sushi platter.

"What's that?"

"Sushi."

"Sushi?"

"Rice, uh, raw fish and seaweed." She waited while John stared at the floor, looking as if he was trying to figure out on his own why someone would ever eat raw fish and seaweed. "Can I eat?" she finally asked.

"I don't know... give it a try." Bender answered looking scared.

They both watched as Andrew pulled out a heap of food from his bag. "What's your problem?" he asked.

Bender got up and walked over to Erin's table with a coke in hand. He set the coke on the table then sat himself on the table top and waited. Once again Erin didn't look up as she was studying hard on the book in front of her. Once again John had to lift her chin up with his finger so he would get some attention. "Where's your lunch, beautiful?"

Erin's face flushed quickly and she stammered, "M-My dad forgot to make me one... he has a lot to worry about."

John nodded in understanding and leaned way over to Andrews table, reaching for the apple that sat closest to him. Andrews hand clamped down on the boys wrist causing John to fall over onto the floor. Andrew didn't let go.

"What're you doing?" Andrew asked.

John whipped his head up to look at the jock. "Erin over there doesn't have a lunch. You want to protect her so bad what do you say about letting her have that apple?"

Andrew glanced up at Erin and she could only stare back in scared silence.

Andrew looked back down at John and finally let go of his wrist with a nod. John sat up on his knees and took the apple from the jock's lunch.

"I'll be sure to pray for you." he promised.

"Don't bother." Andrew mumbled.

John smirked and stood up. He stopped in front of Erin's seat and marveled at the way she stared up at him. He hesitated and then brought the apple up to his lips. He took a bite and then handed it down to her. She took the apple without breaking the gaze and bit slightly from the same spot. He smiled down at her and went over to Brian's table.

He grabbed the boys bag and sat it out of his reach. "What're we having?"

"Uh, it's your standard, regular lunch, I guess." Brian answered.

Erin smiled to herself as she bit again into the apple and focused on her book. After a while she heard John announce to the whole class, "Here's my impression of life at big Bri's house..." with an interested smile Erin turned around to watch John standing down the middle of the two rows of tables. John raised his hand to his mouth and in a deep voice began his little charade.

"Son?"

He put on a big smile and made his voice lighter, "Yeah, Dad?"

"How was your day, pal?"

"Great, Dad! How's yours?"  
"Super! Say, son, how'd you like to go fishing this weekend?"

As Erin realized how demeaning this was her smile slid off of her face.

"Great, Dad! But I've got homework to do."

"That's alright, son. You can do it on the boat!"  
"Gee!"

Now John pretended to be a husband and wife.

"Dear, isn't our son swell?"

"Yes, dear. Isn't life swell?"

He pretended to be the wife giving the husband a kiss than the husband giving the wife a kiss... then he mimicked punching the wife in the face. Erin gasped lightly at what John was insinuating. John walked to his original table and sat on the desk, not saying another word and staring at the ground.

The room was silent until Andrew spoke. "Alright, what about your family?"

"Oh, mine?" Bender asked.

"Yeah."  
"It's real easy." John answered and went back to where he stood earlier.

He rubbed his neck and put on the look of a big, gross, man. He pointed at the air and began:

"Stupid, worthless, no-good, goddamn, free-loading son of a bitch. Retarded, big mouth, no-it-all, asshole jerk."

He crossed his arms and said in a lighter voice, "You forgot ugly, lazy, and disrespectful."

He mimicked back-handing someone. "Shut up, bitch! Go fix me a turkey pot-pie."  
"What about you dad?"

"Fuck you..."

"No, dad, what about you?"

"Fuck you."

"No, Dad, what about you?!"

"Fuck you!"

He punched the air then threw his head back and turned to everybody.

"Is that for real?" Brian asked.

"You wanna come over sometime?" John asked in return.

"That's bullshit," Andrew said. "It's all part of your image. I don't believe a word of it."

"You don't believe me." It hardly sounded like a question. It sounded like John had been through this conversation a million times and always got the same reaction. Everyone always thought he was lying.

"No." Andrew answered.

"No?"

"Did I stutter?"

John trudged over to Andrew and pulled up his sleeve. In the middle on the inside of his arm was a round scar about the size of a nickel. Erin's hand raised to her mouth when she saw it.

"Do you believe this? Huh? It's about the size of a cigar. Do I stutter?" Andrew flinched away. "See, this is what you get in my house when you spill paint in the garage." He pushed his sleeve back down and backed away. "See, I don't think that I need to sit with you fucking dildos anymore." He turned around and walked to a map table. With a yell he threw all the maps on the floor and climbed on top of it to climb onto the second floor balcony to sit by himself.

"You shouldn't have said that." Claire told Andrew once the room was quiet.

"How would I know? I mean he lies about everything anyway." Andrew said in defense.

Erin stood. "I'm gonna go talk to him." She started walking to the stairs but Claire grabbed her arm.

"No, you shouldn't!" Erin looked down at her. "Maybe he just wants to be alone right now."

"I think he's been alone all his life." Erin told her. Claire let go of her arm.

Erin walked up the stairs to where John was sitting. Before she could even say one word he spoke through his teeth, "Get. The fuck. Away."

"You really want me to go?" Erin asked.

John turned and looked up at her. When he saw her face he seemed to relax. "No... Sit. If you want."

Erin sat down next to John with her legs fitting between the metal rungs and her legs dangling.

"I'm sorry about your life at home..." she said, not exactly sure how to comfort him. "That's gotta be really hard to go to everyday."

John smirked sadly. "Why do you think I get myself into trouble so much? I'd rather be stuck here than be at home."

Erin nodded and thought of what to say next. "You don't talk about this a lot do you?" she asked. "I mean, maybe you do, but just... not... like that." she gestured downstairs to where everyone was sitting. "Like you had. So descriptively."

"No one understands anyway." John mumbled.

"Maybe they don't want to upset you further by talking about it or they can't connect."

John shrugged. "Whatever."

Erin wanted to talk to him more about this. Tell him that _she_ understood. That _she_ connected with him, more than he knew or anyone else. She understood what he was going through. She did, she did, she did.

Instead Erin retracted her legs from in between the rungs and crossed them, turning to John. She put her forehead on his shoulder and could feel him tense up. After a few seconds he relaxed. Erin put her hand on his arm and gently asked, "Can... Can I see it again?"

When he didn't answer she moved back and looked up at him. He seemed to be searching for her motive but when he found none he pulled back his sleeve again. The skin on John's arm was smooth and the veins bulged out. Erin gently pulled his arm into her lap. She payed no mind to the scar yet and only traced the veins of his arm with her fingertips.

John watched the girl with glasses as her fingertips lightly went over his veins. Her wavy, shoulder-length brown hair almost obscured his view of her face. There was so much difference from her and the other girls he normally talked to or interacted with. In that moment he thought she was the most beautiful girl her had ever met. Her thumb ran over the rough skin of his scar and she glanced up at him to make sure it was all right. He didn't do anything when she looked up at him. He was too caught up in looking at her green eyes. When she looked back down he reached out with his other hand and cupped her cheek, making her look back up at him.

Erin's palms grew warm. She hadn't realized what she had been doing until the reality of this situation set in. Her and John were sitting very close while his arm was resting across her lap and he was holding her face. He leaned down to her closer and closer and Erin prepared herself for what was coming but had no idea what to do so she just sat there. She watched as John's eyes slipped closed and figured she should do that too. She waited for the kiss but felt nothing and then opened her eyes.

"Come on." John was standing and had his hand held out for her. Red-faced, Erin took his hand and he lifted her up onto her feet.

"W-Where are you going?" she asked when he passed her and started walking down the steps of the staircase.

"My locker." he answered without turning around.

Erin followed after him and once they got to the bottom of the stairs John asked, "I'm going on a little adventure. Anyone wanna go with me?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello again my lovelies! Well, here I am with another installment of my fanfic. A big thank you to everyone new that's following this story, thank you so much! Okay, I don't have much to say this time so just enjoy!**

**Maybe Brainiac's Aren't All That Bad – Chapter 5**

"How do you know where Vernon went?" Erin asked.

"I don't." John answered.

"Well then... how do you know when he'll be back?" Erin asked again, starting to panic.

"I don't... being bad feels pretty good, huh?"  
Erin did feel a rush of excitement at the possibility and thought of getting caught. She had never done anything like sneaking around before. She smiled and continued walking with John down the hall.

"Do you think we're gonna get caught?" Claire asked Brian.

"I don't know... I don't exactly see the point of going to Bender's locker in the first place." Brian answered.

Claire shook her head. "This is so stupid... Why are we risking getting caught?"

"Beats me... I was just wondering that myself."

Claire had a worried look on her face.

"Don't worry," Brian tried. "If we get caught... I'm already getting another detention next Saturday. I'll keep you company."

It was a weak attempt at comfort but it made Claire smile anyway. They continued walking.

"Are you worried we're gonna get caught?" Andrew asked Allison.

Allison trudged silently and gave a weak shrug. _Not much of an answer..._

"Because you shouldn't be worried. I'll defend you if we do get caught. I'll say Bender forced us to come with him."

"Thanks." Allison muttered, not even glancing at Andrew.

Andrew nodded and they continued walking in silence.

The group arrived at their destination. Bender opened up his locker and everyone donned shocked expressions on their faces at the sight. Everyone except for Bender and Erin. She had watched John from across the halls and already knew of the catastrophe that was the inside of the locker. She had thought several times of offering to clean the boys locker as a way to get to talk to him but then she always imagined what would happen after she asked and... it never went well in her head.

"Slob!" Andrew exclaimed.

"My maid's on vacation." John muttered as he started picking through his locker.

Erin suddenly had a thought. _It's now or never..._

"I could clean it for you!" the words burst from her mouth. John held a giant, crumpled up paper bag and stared at her. "If you want me to... one day..."

John started pulling another crumpled up paper bag from the larger one and stuffed the larger one in his locker. Then he pulled another bag from that bag, then another until a bag of marijuana was all that was left.

"Drugs..." Brian said in astonishment. So this was what they risked getting caught for.

"Screw that Bender... put it back!" Andrew demanded.

John grabbed Erin's hand and pulled her along, ignoring the two boys, he kissed her forehead and whispered, "Maybe one day I'll let you clean it."

Gripping John's hand and blushing fiercely Erin whispered, "'Kay..." and let John pull her down the hall.

"Drugs... the boy had marijuana." Brian reminded Claire.

Claire cringed and looked like she was going to try and explain herself for following after John and Erin, but she only stumbled over her words and walked past Brian.

"That was marijuana!" Brian exclaimed to Andrew.

"Shut up, dick." Andrew said and followed after Claire.

Brian looked up at Allison who was the only one left standing there.

"Do you approve of this?" he asked her. When she didn't answer he scoffed and turned to follow after the rest of the group. Allison stole the open lock off of Bender's locker and followed Brian.

"We'll cross through the lab, and then we'll double back." Bender announced to the group as they walked down the hall.

"Are you sure?" Erin asked, looking up at him.

"Of course, Dollface. I know this school like I know the back of your hand." he smiled and raised their joined hands to his lips, placing a kiss on the back of Erin's hand.

Erin blushed. Claire scoffed, "Gross."

"You better be right." Andrew warned. "If Vernon cuts us off it's your fault, asshole!"

"What'd he say? Where are we going?" Brian asked Claire.

Suddenly the group saw Principal Vernon down one of the halls and they all made a mad dash to get away before they were seen. They ran in every direction, down every hall but it was like there were multiple Vernon's scattered everywhere! They ran until they were all panting and Erin had a stitch in her side.

John stopped running and yelled, "Wait! Wait, hold it! Hold it! We have to go through the cafeteria!"

"No, the activities hall." Andrew argued.

"Hey man, you don't know what you're talking about!"

"No, you don't know what you're talking about!"

Allison squealed.

"Now, we're through listening to you, we're going this way." Andrew said and started running.

The whole group followed Andrew his way until they ran into an iron gate, blocking them from getting to where they need to go.

"Shit!" Andrew exclaimed.

"No!" Erin cried.

"Great idea, Jagoff!" Bender shouted at Andrew.

"Fuck you!" Andrew shot back.

"Fuck you! Why didn't you listen to John?" Claire asked Andrew.

"We're dead!" Brian cried out.

"No... just me."

Erin looked at John with a confused expression.

"What do you mean?" Brian asked.

"Get back to the library." John told all of them and shoved his bag of marijuana down Brian's underwear. "Keep your unit on this!" he warned. He turned to Erin and hesitated before kissing her forehead. Then he bolted down the hall loudly yelling, "I wanna be an airborne ranger...!"

"Be careful!" Erin shouted after him.

"Come on!" Claire yelled. She pulled on Erin's arm and Allison pulled on the other.

The group arrived back at the library and sat in their seats to wait. Erin fidgeted the entire time until the door to the library opened and John was pushed through by Principal Vernon. Everyone could already tell John was in a lot of trouble for saving them.

"Get your stuff, let's go!" Vernon said tp John.

Erin watched John trudge between the rows to his seat. He didn't make eye contact with her.

"Mr. Wiseguy here has taken it upon himself to go to the gymnasium. I'm sorry to inform you, you're going to be without his services for the rest of the day."

"B-O-O H-O-O." John sarcastically spelled out the two words.

Erin warily looked from John to Principal Vernon.

"Every thing's a big joke, huh, Bender? The false alarm you pulled, Friday? False alarms are really funny, aren't they? What if your home- what if your family- what if your _dope_ was on fire?"

"Impossible, sir. It's in Johnson's underwear."

Andrew laughed and Vernon turned on him. "You think he's funny? You think this is cute? You think he's 'bitchin'"? Is that it? Let me tell you something. Look at him, he's a bum."

Erin was fuming. She grit her teeth and stared at Principal Vernon angrily. Every word he said made her more and more furious.

"You wanna see something funny?" Vernon continued. "You go visit John Bender in five years! You'll see how God damned funny he is!"

Erin jumped up and screamed, "Stop talking about him like that!"

The room was silent with shock.

After a minute Principal Vernon walked over to John. "Let's go, Bender. Come on..." he started pulling on John's jacket but John jumped up and threw him off.

"Hey, keep your fucking hands off me! I expect better manners from you, Dick."

Vernon followed John as he walked to Andrew's table and lay his own pair of sunglasses in front of him. "For better hallway vision." he told him. John walked to Erin's table where she was still standing. He gently grabbed her hand and moved closer to her. "It's okay..." he whispered in her ear and kissed her cheek. Their eyes met again and Erin nodded, she took a deep breath. When John moved on Principal Vernon stopped in front of Erin. He sighed and couldn't make eye contact with her as he said, "Two more Saturdays, Harley. Understood?"

Erin nodded and when Vernon walked past her to meet John who was waiting for him she dropped to her seat with her head in her hands. She didn't even flinch when John pushed the fax machine off of the desk to clatter and crash to the ground.

Once Vernon and John left Andrew got up from his seat and sat next to Erin. He wasn't sure what to do or say to comfort her so he just said what he felt he needed to. "I might end up here again, too- we all might at the rate we're going..." he gently said.

Erin didn't move.

Claire stood from here seat and walked over to Erin's table. She sat on the tabletop and lightly stroked Erin's hair. "I could take you out shopping one day, if you'd like. We could go to any store you w-"

"I don't care about things like that!" Erin yelled and looked up at Claire. She stood up and walked to the middle of the two rows while saying, "These _detentions_ are going on my _record_, okay?!" She began pacing. "My dad has so much to worry about already with work and—and-" she gripped her hair at the roots and tears began to gather in her eyes. "I need to get into a good college. I need to become a- a doctor..."

Claire got up from the table to wrap her arms around the smaller girls frame. Erin limply hung onto her as she sobbed. After a long while the two had sunk to the floor and Claire rubbed Erin's back while Erin calmed down. Finally, Erin took her glasses off and wiped her face.

"You okay?" Claire asked, continuing to rub the girls shoulder.

Erin gave a weak smile and sniffed, "Yeah..." she looked up at Brian and Andrew who were watching them. "I'm so embarrassed." She laughed nervously.

"It's okay." Claire said.

"It seems like you've needed a cry like that for a long time." Andrew said.

"Yeah." Brian agreed.

"Yeah... I guess I did." Erin sniffed again.

"You can still get into a great college, I'm sure of it." Brian told her.

"Really?" Erin asked.

He nodded and Erin smiled again.

"You know," came a voice from the back of the room. "I think it was really brave of you to defend John like that."

Erin stood up and saw Allison looking back at her. The compliment brought tears to Erin's eyes again. "Thank you..." she whispered.

"OH SHIIIT!"

Everyone jumped at the sound and watched as something fell from the ceiling. Everyone sat in silence and waited until John appeared and casually said, "I forgot my pencil."

He snatched a pencil from the receptionists desk and walked up to Erin. "Hey, Dollface. Miss me?" Once he got close enough he examined her tear- stained face and his eyebrow creased. "What's wrong?"

"God dammit!"

Everyone heard Vernon's yell and ran to their seats. John hid beneath Erin's table so he wouldn't be seen by Vernon.

"What in God's name is going on in here?!" Vernon entered the library and looked around. "What was that ruckus?"

"Uh, what ruckus?" Andrew asked.

"I was just in my office and I heard a ruckus!" Vernon said.

"Could you describe the ruckus, sir?" Brian asked.

"Watch your tongue, young man, watch it!" Vernon snapped.

While situating himself under the table John ended up hitting his head on the underside of the table. Erin, Andrew and Claire tried to take credit for the noise by hitting the table a few times.

"What is that?" Vernon asked.

Andrew made a zipping noise which made Vernon even more confused.

"What, what is that? What is that noise?"

"What noise?" Andrew asked.

"Really, sir," Erin said. "There wasn't any noise... ow..." she moaned out when she felt a bite on her inner thigh and from pure panic she pushed her knees together, crushing John's head. John let out a pained yelp and everyone started faking a coughing fit.

"That noise?" Claire asked.

A flustered Erin asked, "Was that the noise you were talking about?"

"No, it wasn't." Vernon answered. "That was not the noise I was talking about. Now, I may not have caught you in the act this time, but you can bet I will."

Allison let out a laugh.

Vernon pointed at her. "You make book on that, missy!" Then to Erin he said, "And you! I will not be made a fool of!"

Vernon turned and walked away and everyone could see he had a toilet seat cover stuck in his pants. Once Vernon left and the door to the library shut everyone burst into laughter except for Erin who moved her seat back and let John crawl out while hitting him on the back a few times.

"You. Are such. A jerk!"

"It was an accident!" He cried trying to defend himself. "You're irresistible." He leaned close to her.

Erin crossed her arms. "Yeah, well, you almost got me in trouble again."

"So sue me." He told her with a sarcastic smirk. "Come on." John stood and extended his hand out to her. Erin hesitated a moment before rolling her eyes and taking his hand. They linked fingers and John led her over to Brian. "So, Ahab... can I have all my doobage?"

An awkward moment was spent as Brian retrieved the bag of marijuana from his underwear. He handed it over and John gave him a salute then pulled Erin along to a lounge area of the library.

"Yo, waistoid... you're not gonna blaze up in here!" Andrew yelled after him.

John rolled his eyes at Erin about Andrew and she gave a small chuckle. Even though she was going along with John she felt nervous about what was about to happen next.

She guessed she was going to have to deal with it as it came.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello, dearies, I am sorry for no updates lately, I just don't have access to the internet during the last half of the week but I am here now with the newest installment of my story! I hope you enjoy it so just get reading already!**

**Maybe Brainiac's Aren't All That Bad – Chapter 6**

Erin watched John roll the joint in silence. When Claire entered their little area and sat down Erin smiled at her and went back to watching John. He licked the paper to seal it and Brian joined them as he lit it. He took a couple puffs from the joint and passed it to Erin. She hesitated.

"Go ahead." John urged.

"What... What if we get caught?" Erin asked. The moment the words came out she immediately felt like a Brainiac again.

"You're already in trouble." Claire reminded her. "As long as we're quiet Vernon won't come back in here."

Erin looked back over to John and he held the joint out to her again. Erin gently took it, her hand shaking slightly and raised it to her lips. She inhaled once then passed it to Brian.

John chuckled at her and went to work at rolling another.

Soon, everyone had their own joint and even Andrew had stopped by to take one and left to smoke it alone. Erin was getting more comfortable and relaxed about everything by the second. She laughed as Brian exhaled the smoke from his joint and tried to eat it.

Claire inhaled from her joint and coughed the smoke out.

"Chicks cain't hold their smoke." Brian said in a squeaky voice. "That's what it is."

Everyone chuckled.

"Do you know how popular I am?" Claire asked which made Erin laugh. "I am so popular, everybody loves me so much at this school..." she shook her head and inhaled from her joint again.

"Poor baby." Brian said with a smile as he folded himself over his lap.

"You guys..." Erin said. "Am I a bad person?"  
John looked over at her with a confused look on his face. "Of course not, Dollface. Why would you ask that?"

Erin inhaled from her joint. "I just..." she blew the smoke out. "Sometimes I think bad things happen to me because I'm a bad person... I'm not, right?"

John pulled Erin toward him and kissed the top of her head. "Of course you're not a bad person. You're a very good girl." he murmured into her hair. He let go of her and looked into her eyes. She nodded and blushed a bit. She was _really_ starting to fall for this boy.

Brian beckoned John close to him for a high-five which made John smile and move closer. He pushed Brian's hand into his face and Brian fell over, causing everyone to burst into laughter.

The door to the room Andrew was in opened and Andrew walked out, puffing from his joint. He smiled and ditched the joint to the side then started running and dancing around. He did all kinds of flips and jumps while the group downstairs applauded and whistled for him. At the end of Andrew's show he went back to the room he had been smoking in and yelled until the glass on the door shattered.

Later, Andrew, Brian, and Claire sat with each other, laughing hysterically.

"No, no, man, no; You got a middle name?" Andrew asked.

"Yeah, I guess..." Brian said with a smile.

Before Brian could say anything else Allison pushed herself into the conversation. "Your middle name is Ralph, as in puke..." Everyone looked at her in confusion as she walked over and sat among the group. "...your birthday is March 12th, you're five-nine and a half, you weigh a hundred and thirty pounds and your social security number is 0-4-9-3-8-0-9-1."

Silence.

"Wow, are you psychic?" Andrew asked, sounding impressed.

"No..." Allison said.

"Well, would you mind telling me how you know all this about me?" Brian asked.

Allison reached into her bag and pulled out a wallet. "I stole your wallet..." She grinned.

Claire gasped and let out a giggle.

"I'm so glad you think this is funny." Brian said to Claire. Then he looked at Allison, "Give it to me." he demanded.

"No." Allison said.

"Give it!"

Allison reluctantly handed the wallet over. Brian snatched it from her and began looking through it to make sure nothing was missing.

"This is great... you're a thief, too, huh?" Brian asked.

"I'm not a thief!" Allison said.

"Multi-talented."

"What's there to steal? Two bucks and a beaver shot."

"A what?" Andrew asked.

"He's got a nudie picture in there, I saw it, it's perverted."

"Alright, let's see it!" Andrew exclaimed.

Sitting in another part of the library Erin and John were going through each other's stuff. John had everything in Erin's bag laying out in front of him on a table. Binders, folders, pens, pencils, and the like. Erin was flipping through pictures in John's wallet and becoming more and more depressed.

"Are all these your girlfriends?" she asked.

John paused for a moment, contemplating his answer (Frankly, he was upset she answered that question at all). "Some of them..." he muttered.

"What about the others?"

"Well, some I consider my girlfriends and some... I just consider."

"Consider what?"

John sighed. "Whether or not I want to hang out with them."

Erin wondered if what John had been doing all day was 'considering' Erin.

"You don't believe in just one guy, one girl?" She asked.

John looked up at her. "Do you?"

Erin shrugged. "Yeah, that's the way it should be."

"Well, not for me."

"Why not?"

John sighed and gestured to all the schoolwork and things from Erin's bag on the table. "How come you got so much shit in your bag?"

"How come you've got so many girlfriends?" Erin countered.

"I asked you first."

Erin leaned forward to look at all of graded assignments she keeps just in case. "I don't know... I guess I never throw anything away."

"Neither do I." John said.

"Oh..." Erin whispered.

Claire and Andrew were examining Brian's fake I.D.

"This is the worst fake I.D. I've ever seen." Andrew said.

Brian laughed.

"Do you realize you made yourself sixty eight?" Claire asked, pointing to the age on the I.D.

"Oh, I know, I know. I goofed it." Brian answered, taking the card and putting it back in his wallet.

"What do you need a fake I.D. for?" Claire asked.

"So I can vote." Brian answered, like the answer should have been obvious.

"You wanna see what's in my bag?" Allison suddenly asked.

"No." Brian and Andrew said in unison.

Allison looked hurt at their answer and dumped the contents of her bag out anyway. Heaps of items fell onto the couch.

"Holy shit!" Andrew exclaimed. "What is all that stuff?"

"Do you always carry this much shit in your bag?" Brain asked.

"Yeah... I always carry this much... shit... in my bag... You never know when you may have to jam."

"What, like... run away?" Claire asked.

Allison gave a small and silent nod.

Brian looked up from picking through Allison's stuff and asked, "Are you gonna be like a shopping bag lady? You know, like, sit in alleyways and like, talk to buildings and wear men's shoes and that kinda thing?"

"I'll do what I have to do." Allison said.

"Why do you have to do anything?" Claire asked.

Allison stared at the girl for a moment. "My home life is... unsatisfying."  
"So, you're saying you'd subject yourself to the violent dangers of the Chicago streets because your home life is unsatisfying?"

"I don't have to run away and live in the street. I can run away and go to the ocean, I can go to the country, I can go to the mountains. I can go to Israel, Africa, Afghanistan..."

Brian looked at her for a few moments before moving over to Andrew. "Andy, you wanna get in on this?" he asked. "Allison here says, she wants to run away, because her home life is unsatisfying."

"Well, everyone's home lives are unsatisfying. If it wasn't, people would live with their parents forever." Andrew said while looking at Allison.

"Yeah, yeah, I understand. But I think that hers goes beyond, you know, what guys like you and me consider normal unsatisfying."

"Never mind, forget it, every thing's cool." Allison said and started putting everything back in her bag.

"What's the deal?" Andrew asked.

"No! There's no deal, _Sporto_. Forget it, leave me alone."

"Wait a minute, now, you're carrying all that crap around in your purse... Either you really wanna run away or you want people to think you wanna run away."

"Eat. Shit." Allison said and walked away to lean over a bookshelf by herself.

"The girl is an island with herself, okay?" Brian said to Andrew.

Andrew stood up and went after Allison. He leaned against the bookshelf. "Hi, you wanna talk?"

"No." Allison answered with her eyes wide.

"Why not?"

"Go away."

"Where do you want me to go?"

"Go. Away!"

Andrew turned and started walking away but Allison yelled after him. "You have problems!"

"Oh, _I _have problems?" Andrew turned around and asked.

"You do everything everybody ever tells you to do, _that_ is a problem!"

"Okay, fine. But I didn't dump my purse out on the couch and invite people into _my_ problems, did I?" Allison stayed quiet. "So, what's wrong?" She didn't answer. "What is it? Is it bad?" She nodded. "Real bad?" She nodded again. "Parents?"

She started crying. "Yeah..."

"What do they do to you?"

"They ignore me."

"Yeah..." Andrew nodded in thought. He had the exact opposite of that problem. His parents never stopped paying attention to him.

Claire and Brian sat in silence while Allison and Andrew talked until Claire looked over at Brian.

"Why do you have that picture in your wallet?" she asked.

Brian looked up at her in shock. "Uh, are you really asking me that question?"

"I mean... why do you _need_ it? You don't have a girlfriend to... you know... do stuff with?"

Brian laughed. "Why would _I_ have a girlfriend?"

"Why wouldn't you have a girlfriend?"  
Brian blinked. "I mean... look at me. I'm a nerd. Girls don't typically like me."

"Because you're smart?" Claire asked.

"I guess, I don't know."

"That's a stupid reason not to date someone."

Brian shrugged. "Yeah."

"I think any girl would be lucky to have you as a boyfriend."

"Yeah?" Brian asked with a smile on his face.

Claire nodded. "Yeah."

They smiled at each other.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello everyone! So, I hadn't planned on updating today because we're getting down to the last two chapters and I wanted to space things out but upon checking for new followers, favorites, and reviews I saw two more lovely reviews so I'm updating! (this is for you Alle ;) ) This is the longest, and second to last chapter of this fanfic and I know I thank you guys in every update but thank you again for all the support and reading my story! I love you all! **

**Alright, read on!**

**Maybe Brainiac's Aren't All That Bad – Chapter 7**

Claire, Brian, Andrew, Allison, Erin, and John all sat in a circle on the floor of the library (in that order) talking.

"What would I do for a million bucks?" Andrew asked. "Well, I guess I would do as little as I had to."

Claire sighed. "That's boring!"

"Well, how am I supposed to answer?"

"The idea is to like search your mind for the absolute limit. Like, uh, would you drive to school naked?"

Andrew laughed. "Um, uh... would I have to get out of the car?"

"Of course."

"In the spring, or winter?"  
"Doesn't matter... spring!"

"In front of the school or in back of the school?"

"Either one."

Andrew smiled. "Yes."

"I'd do that!" Allison said. "I'll do anything sexual and I don't need a million dollars to do it either."

"You're lying." Claire said.

"I already have... I've done just about everything there is except a few things that are illegal... I'm a nymphomaniac."

Claire rolled her eyes. "Lie!"

"Are your parents aware of this?" Brian asked.

"The only person I told was my shrink." Allison answered.

"And what'd he do when you told him?" Andrew asked.

Allison smiled wickedly. "He nailed me."

"Very nice." Claire said sarcastically.

"I don't think that from a legal standpoint what he did can be construed as rape since I paid him..."

"He's an adult!" Erin exclaimed her mouth hanging open slightly from shock.

"Yeah... he's married too."

"Do you have any idea how completely gross that is?" Claire asked.

"Well, the first few times-"

"First few times?!" Erin interrupted. "You mean he did it more than once?"

"Sure."

"Are you crazy?"

"Obviously she's crazy if she's screwing her shrink." Brian said.

"Have you ever done it?" Allison asked Erin.

"I don't even have a psychiatrist." Erin said.

"Have you ever done it with a normal person?"

"Didn't we already go over this?" Erin asked John.

"You never answered the question." John told her.

"Look, I'm not going to discuss my private life with all of you."

"It's kind of a double-edged sword isn't it?" Allison asked.

"A what?"

"Well, if you say you haven't you're a prude. If you say you have, you're a slut. It's a trap. You want to but you can't and when you do you wish you didn't, right?"

"Uh..." Erin stammered, not sure what to say.

"Or, are you a tease?"

"She's a tease!" Andrew said.

"Oh, why don't you just forget it?" Erin asked.

"You're a tease and you know it, all girls are teases." Andrew said.

John looked at Andrew and said, "She's only a tease if what she does gets you hot."

"I don't do anything!" Erin tried defending herself.

"That's why you're a tease." Allison told her.

Erin crossed her arms. "Okay, let me ask you a few questions."

"I've already told you everything!"

"No! Doesn't it bother you to sleep around without being in love? I mean, don't you want any respect?"

"I don't screw to get respect. That's the difference between you and me."

"Not the only difference I hope." Claire said.

"Face it, you're a tease." John said.

"I'm not a tease!" Erin yelled.

"Sure you are! Sex is a weapon, you said it yourself, you use it to get respect." Andrew said.

"...No I never said that, she twisted my words around."

"Oh, then what do you use it for?" John asked.

"I don't use it for anything!" Erin yelled, she was on the verge of tears.

"So, are you medically frigid, or is it psychological?" Allison asked.

"I didn't mean it that way! You guys are putting words in my mouth!" Erin yelled again.

"Well, if you'd just answer the question..." John said.

"Why don't you just answer the question?" Brian asked.

"Be honest..." Andrew said.

Soon all three boys were yelling for Erin to tell the truth about her virginity. Allison and Claire could only watch sadly.

Erin's eyes filled with tears from so much attention being brought to her on this particular subject and she suddenly screamed, "NO! I NEVER DID IT!"

The room was silent.

"I've never done it either." Claire said into the silence, nervously looking around the room at everyone.

"Really?" Brian asked.

"Yeah..." Claire answered.

Brian nodded with a smile on his face. She smiled back.

"I never did it either." Allison admitted which made Erin and Claire fume with anger. "I'm not a nymphomaniac... I'm a compulsive liar."

"You are such a bitch!" Claire shouted at Allison. "You did that on purpose just to fuck her over!"

"I would do it though. If you love someone, it's okay."

"I can't believe you, you're so weird. You just... unload all these tremendous lies all over people!"

"You're just pissed off because she got you and Erin to admit something you didn't want to admit to." Andrew told Claire.

"Okay, fine, but that doesn't make it any less bizarre."

"What's bizarre? I mean, we're all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it, that's all."

"How are you bizarre?" Claire asked him.

"He can't think for himself." Allison answered.

"She's right." Andrew said. "Do you guys know what, uh, what I did to get in here?" No one had a guess so he answered for them. "I taped Larry Lester's buns together."

Claire laughed but Brian and Erin stared horrified at him.

"That was you?"

"You did that." Brian and Erin asked in unison.

"Yeah, you guys know him?"

"Yeah, we know him." Brian said while Erin nodded.

"Well then you know how hairy he is, right? Well, when they pulled the tape off, most of his hair came off and some, some skin too..."

"Oh, my God..." Claire said.

"And the bizarre thing is..." Andrew continued. "Is that I did it for my old man. I tortured this poor kid, because I wanted him to think that I was cool. He's always going off about, you know, when he was in school... all the wild things he used to do. And I got the feeling that he was disappointed that I never cut loose on anyone, right? So, I'm... I'm sitting in the locker room, and I'm taping up my knee. And Larry's undressing a couple lockers down from me. Yeah... he's kinda... he's kinda skinny, weak. And I started thinking about my father, and his attitude about weakness. And the next thing I knew, I uh, I jumped on top of him and started wailing on him... And my friends, they just laughed and cheered me on. And afterwards, when I was sittin' in Vernon's office, all I could think about was Larry's father. And Larry having to go home and... and explain what happened to him. And the humiliation... fucking humiliation he must have felt. It must have been unreal... I mean..." Andrew started crying. "I mean, how do you apologize for something like that? There's no way... it's all because of me and my old man. Oh, God, I fucking hate him! He's like this... he's like this mindless machine that I can't even relate to anymore... 'Andrew, you've got to be number one! I won't tolerate any losers in this family... Your intensity is for shit! Win. Win! WIN!' You son of a bitch... You know, sometimes, I wish my knee would give... and I wouldn't be able to wrestle anymore. And he could forget all about me..."

Everyone was silent until Bender said, "I think your old man and my old man should get together and go bowling."

Andrew chuckled.

"It's like me, you know, with my grades..." Brian started. "Like, when I step outside myself kinda, and when I, when I look in at myself, you know? And I see me... I don't like what I see, I really don't."

"What's wrong with you? Why don't you like yourself?" Claire asked.

"Sounds stupid but... Cause I'm failing shop. See, we had this assignment, to make this ceramic elephant, and um... we had eight weeks to do it and we're supposed to- and it was like a lamp, and when you pull the trunk the light was supposed to go on... my light didn't go on, I got a F on it. Never got a F in my life... When I signed up, you know, I thought I was playing it real smart, you know. 'Cause I thought, I'll take shop, it'll be such an easy way to maintain my grade point average."

"Why'd you think it would be easy?" John asked him.

"Have you seen some of the dopes that take shop?" Brian asked.

"_I _take shop. You must be a fucking idiot."

"I'm a fucking idiot because I can't make a lamp?"

"No, you're a genius because you can't make a lamp."

"What do you know about Trigonometry?"

"I could care less about Trigonometry."

"Bender, did you know that without Trigonometry there'd be no engineering?"

"Without lamps, there'd be no light!"

"Okay, so neither one of you is better than the other." Erin interrupted.

"I can write with my toes!" Allison suddenly said. "I can also eat, brush my teeth..."  
"With your feet?" Claire asked.

"...play Heart and Soul on the piano."

"I can make spaghetti!" Brain said.

"What can you do?" Claire asked Andrew.

"I can, uh, tape all your buns together." He laughed.

"What can you do, Dollface?" John asked Erin.

Erin smiled, "I can do really pretty braid patterns in hair."

"That's so cool." Claire said.

"I wanna see what Claire can do!" Brian said.

"I can't do anything." Claire shook her head.

"Everybody can do something."

"There's one thing I can do..." She thought but shook her head. "No, forget it, it's way too embarrassing."

"Have you ever seen Wild Kingdom? I mean, that guys been doing that show for thirty years."

Claire thought again. "...Okay, but you have to swear to God you won't laugh..." as she reached into her purse and pulled out a tube of lipstick John crossed himself. "I can't believe I'm actually doing this..."

Everyone was silent and watched closely as Claire placed the lipstick in her shirt and used it to hold the tube while she applied it to her lips. When she lifted her head her lipstick was perfectly applied.

Everyone clapped and shouted encouragements. Except for John. His claps were slow and sarcastic. Erin touched his arm but he didn't look at her.

"All right, that's great! Where'd you learn to do that?" Andrew asked.

"Camp, seventh grade." Claire answered while she put the tube away.

"That was great, Claire." Bender said. "My image of you is totally blown."

"You're a shit." Allison said. "Don't do that to her, you swore to God you wouldn't laugh."

"Am I laughing?" John asked.

"You fucking prick!" Andrew spit at him.

John look at Andrew with anger in his eyes. "What do you care what I think, anyway? I don't even count, right? I could disappear forever and it wouldn't make any difference. I may as well not even exist at this school, remember?" He turned to Claire. "And you... don't like me anyway."

"You know, I have just as many feelings as you do and it hurts just much when someone steps all over them!" Claire shouted at him.

"God, you're so pathetic!" John was furious now. "Don't you ever... ever, compare yourself to me, okay? You got everything, and I got shit! Fuckin' Rapunzel, right? School would probably shut down if you didn't show up. 'Queenie isn't here!' I like those earrings, Claire."

"Shut up..." Claire whispered.

"Are those real diamonds, Claire?" He asked.

"Shut up." she said again.

"I bet they are... did you work for the money for those earrings?"

"Shut... your mouth!"

"Or did your daddy buy those?"

"Shut up!" Claire screamed and started crying.

"I bet he bought those for you. I bet those were a Christmas gift, right?"

Erin was looking away, trying not to pay attention to what was happening.

"You know what I got for Christmas this year?" John continued. "It was a banner fuckin' year at the old Bender family! I got a carton of cigarettes. The old man grabbed me and said, 'Hey! Smoke up, Johnny!'" He saw that Claire was crying. "Okay, so go home and cry to your daddy. Don't cry here, okay?"

The room was silent.

"My, God, are we gonna be like our parents?" Andrew asked.

"Not me..." Claire said. "...ever."

"It's unavoidable... it just happens." Allison said.

"What happens?" Claire asked.

"When you grow up... your heart dies." Allison answered.

"Who cares?" John asked with his eyes closed.

Allison smiled sadly. "I care..."

"Um, I was thinking..." Brian said. "I mean, I know it's kind of a weird time, but I was just wondering, um, what's gonna happen to us on Monday? When we're all together again? I mean, I consider you guys my friends. I'm not wrong, am I?"

"No." Andrew answered him.

"So, so, on Monday... what happens?"

"Are we still friends you mean?" Claire asked. "If we're friends now, that is?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want the truth?"

"Yeah, I want the truth."

Claire shook her head. "I don't think so."

"With all of us, or just John?" Allison asked.

"With all of you..."

"That's a real nice attitude, Claire." Andrew said.

"Oh, be honest, Andy. If Brian came walking up to you in the hall on Monday, what would you do? I mean, picture this: you're there with all the sports. I know exactly what you'd do. You'd say hi and when he left you'd cut him all up so your friends wouldn't think you really liked him."

"No way." Andrew said.

"'Kay, what if I came up to you? Or Erin?" Allison asked.

"Same exact thing." Claire said quietly.

Erin turned her head away from everyone so they couldn't see her eyes fill with tears.

"You. Are. A bitch!" John screamed at Claire.

"Why? 'Cause I'm telling the truth, that makes me a bitch?"

"No! 'Cause you know how shitty that is to do to someone! And you don't got the balls to stand up to your friends and tell 'em that you're gonna like who you wanna like!"

"Okay, what about you, you hypocrite?! Why don't you take Allison to one of your heavy metal vomit parties? Or take Brian out to the parking lot at lunch to get high? What about Andy? What about Erin for that matter? What would you do if your friends saw you flirting with her? What about me? What would your friends say... if they saw us walking down the hall together? They'd laugh their asses off and you'd probably tell them you were doing it with me so they'd forgive you for being seen with me."

"Don't you ever talk about my friends! You don't know any of my friends, you don't look at any of my friends and you certainly don't condescend to speak to any of my friends, so just stick to the things you know, shopping, nail polish, your father's BMW and your poor, drunk, rich mother in the Caribbean!"

"Shut up!"

"John!" Erin yelled.

"What?!" John snapped, whipping his head around to stare at Erin.

Erin blinked in surprise and bit her lip, unsure of what to say now. "Just... stop." she whispered.

"I'm trying to teach her something..." He looked back at Claire and took a moment before he continued. "And as far as being concerned about what's gonna happen when you and I walk down the hallways at school, you can just forget it. 'Cause it's never gonna happen. Just bury your head in the sand and wait for your fuckin' prom." He finished in a quiet voice.

"I hate you!" Claire said, shaking her head and crying again.

"Yeah? Good!" He spat, the fire building in him again.

Silence again.

"Then I assume Allison, Erin, and I are better people than you guys, huh? Us weirdos?" He looked at Allison and Erin and asked, "Would you... would you do that to me?"

Erin's voice shook. "Of course not." She looked at everyone else. "I wouldn't do that to any of you." Her eyes landed on John. "_Any _of you."

"I don't have any friends." Allison said.

Brian chuckled. "Well, if you did?"

"No... I don't think the kind of friends I'd have would mind."  
"I just want to tell, each of you, that I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't and I will not. 'Cause I think that's really shitty."

"Your friends wouldn't mind because they look up to us." Claire said.

Brian laughed sadly. Erin let out a sigh of astonishment.

"You're so conceited, Claire. You're so conceited. You're so like, full of yourself. Why are you like that?"

Claire's voice broke as she spoke. "I'm not saying that to be conceited! I hate it! I hate having to go along with everything my friends say!"

"Well, then why do you do it?"

"I don't know, I don't... You don't understand... you don't. You're not friends with the kind of people Andy and I are friends with. You know, you just don't understand the pressure that they can put on you."

"I don't understand what? You think I don't understand pressure, Claire? Well, fuck you! Fuck you!" Brian hid his face in his arm as he started crying. "Do you know why I'm here today? Do you?!" He took a breath and looked up. "I'm here because Mr. Ryan found a gun in my locker."

"Why'd you have a gun in your locker?" Andrew asked.

"I tried." Brian limply said. "You pull the fuckin' trunk on it and the light's supposed to go on... and it didn't go on. I mean, I..."

"What's the gun for Brian?"

"Just forget it..."

"You brought it up man!"

"I can't have an F. I can't have it and I know my parents can't have it. Even if I ace dthe rest of the semester, I'm still only a B. And every thing's ruined for me."

"Oh, Brian..." Claire whispered.

"What?!" Brian shouted and bashed a chair over. He was silent for a moment then said, "So, I considered my options, you know?"

"No! Killing yourself is not an option!" Claire told him.

"Well, I didn't do it, did I? No, I didn't think so!"

"It was a hand gun?" Allison asked.

"No," Brian answered. "It was a flare gun, went off in my locker."

Andrew started laughing. "Really?"

"It's not funny..."

They all started laughing and eventually Brian did too. "Yes, it is... fuckin' elephant was destroyed!"

The laughter went on until everyone was breathless and almost laying limp on the floor.

"Hey, Erin?"

Erin turned to look at Allison. "Hm?"

"Why do you want to become a doctor?" she asked.

"Yeah, you never told us." Andrew said.

Erin looked down. "Oh, um, well... my mom... she, uh, has brain cancer."

"Really?" Claire asked.

Erin looked up at Claire. "Yeah, she really does... It's t-terminal." Her voice broke but she swallowed and continued. "We've know for three years. I never knew what I wanted to do after high school and ever since she was diagnosed it's- it's always been my dream to become a doctor and help people and... search for a cure."

"I'm so sorry..." Claire whispered.

"Thanks..."

"What was it like when you found out?" Andrew asked.

Erin went quiet for a long time but finally spoke again. "It was bad." she nodded toward him. "With all the money we needed for medicine and chemotherapy my dad couldn't take care of me for the first couple of years so I had to, um, live with my aunt and uncle in Indiana." Erin stared at the ground for a bit, she had never talked about this stuff with anyone. She figured in this moment it was the best to talk about it now. "They were _really_ mean to me." John gripped Erin's hand and she squeezed back. "My uncle especially. He always drank and they had three other kids so I was barely noticed. They openly made it clear that they all hated me being there. They all called me names whether I could hear them or not... and they-" Her voice cracked again and Erin looked up at the ceiling a moment before continuing in a whisper. "They made fun of my mom for having _cancer_. Who _does _that? What kind of human being makes fun of someone for having an _illness?_" She shook her head. "My dad and my uncle had gotten into a huge fight a long time ago but my dad begged my uncle to let me stay there until he got things secure." She paused for a long moment. "Those were the worst two years of my life."

Everyone was quiet until Erin sniffed and asked, "Do you guys, um... do you guys wanna know why I'm here?"

"Oo, this outta be good." John rubbed his hands together in anticipation with a smile on his face. "I've been trying to figure out how you got here all day."

Erin chuckled and stared at her feet. "I, uh... I've been cheating on tests all this semester."

"What?!" Andrew said in disbelief.

"You have?" Brian asked.

Erin nodded. "Yeah... Things with my mom have just gotten really bad lately and I can never focus enough to study so... I cheat every time we, every time we take a test. I thought that being here for eight hours would give me time to study for finals but... Vernon said we couldn't study and gave us the essay..." She chuckled. "But none of us have done that either." She paused for a moment, thinking. "I'm usually always so focused on school. I don't have any friends- except for you guys, right?" Everyone nodded when she looked up and Erin smiled.

"Why don't you have any friends?" Claire asked.

"School has always seemed more important to me than anything else. So I just busy myself with that. Sometimes I'm so busy with it I forget why I even try so hard."

"You need to get out more." John said making Erin chuckle.

"That's what I do though," she admitted. "It's what I've been doing for the past four years. I-I busy myself with all these other things so I don't have to focus on what's going on with my own mother."

"How does that make you feel?"

Erin chuckled aloud, her head bending back a little as she looked up to the ceiling at Andy's therapist-like words. "It makes me feel like shit." Erin answered.

John blinked in surprise at Erin. "That's..." he pointed at her. "That's the-... that's the first time she's sworn since we've been in here. Isn't it?" He looked around at everyone and they nodded in as much astonishment as John was.

Erin laughed. "My uncle used about every cuss word there is in every sentence he used. Especially when he yelled at me. I don't like it when people use those words, so I never did. Until today. Until you guys. You guys have... changed me."

"I think we've all changed from how we were this morning." Claire said.

"Yeah." Andrew agreed.

"You wanna know what I did to get in here?" Allison suddenly asked. "Nothing. I didn't have anything better to do."

Everyone started laughing.

Allison smiled. "You're laughing at me!"

A breathless Andrew shouted, "No!"

Allison started laughing too. "Yeah, you are!"

Everyone kept laughing until it got quiet again.

John sighed. "Well, I don't know about all of you but I've had enough of this sad talking shit." Everyone chuckled. "Brian, how about you go find a record to put on?"

Brian smiled and got up to find a record to put on the P.A. system for the library.

"Come on, Dollface." John held his hand out to Erin and she grabbed it. John pulled her up to her feet and kept hold of her hand. He couldn't look up at her as he said, "I'm, uh... I'm sorry I snapped at you like that. I didn't mean to, I just-

Erin placed her fingertips over John's lips and he finally looked up at her. "_I'm_ fine." She tilted her head forward and raised her eyebrows, indicating someone. John turned around and saw Claire at her table, leaning over her chair and staring at her desk. "I think someone else needs an apology... much more than I do..."

John glanced back at Erin and tried to pull her in so he could kiss her forehead but she leaned back. "Just go..." she said with a smile.

John nodded and slowly walked over to Claire. Erin watched as John approached Claire. She wiped her face quickly and stared up at him. John talked for a minute and Claire nodded. It looked like she said the words, "It's okay..." John kissed her head through her hair and looked her in the eyes one last time before turning back around to Erin.

When John walked back toward Erin she smiled. "You did the right thing."

"Probably the last 'right thing' I'll ever do." He said with a smirk and walked to the statue.

Erin chuckled and looked up at Claire. She smiled back and jogged over to her, grabbing her hand and pulling her up to the second floor balcony.

"You didn't have to make him do that." Claire told her.

Erin fumed. "Did he say I _'made'_ him apologize?"

Claire shrugged one shoulder. "No, but... I know you suggested it. He wouldn't have done it otherwise."

"That's true. I just know that you were hurting and I wanted him to apologize for what he said." She paused. "Did he even _seem_ sorry?"

Claire thought and smiled at Erin. "Yeah... he did."

Erin smiled back. "Good."

Suddenly music crackled to life overhead. Claire and Erin looked up at the speakers and smiled.

"I love this song." they said in unison.

They looked at each other in surprise and burst into laughter.

For the next five minutes all everyone was doing was dancing. Erin and Claire up on the second floor balcony. John clinging to the statue in the middle of the library and moving around like crazy. Andrew playing air-guitar on the railing. Allison rolling around on the floor. After this long and stressful day, it was something that everyone needed. It made Erin laugh to dance like this. She couldn't remember the last time she had danced like this and had fun doing it. Erin knew that she really had changed- that all of them had. She couldn't help but feel that it was for the better.


	8. Chapter 8

**We have arrived, my lovelies. The last chapter of Maybe Brainiac's Aren't All That Bad. It's been awesome and I want to give one last, final, huge thank you to everyone that's followed, favorited, reviewed or even just viewed it! I do however have some ideas for one shots with the different couples which I may or may not work on and publish so watch out for those...**

**Alright everyone, enjoy!**

**Maybe Brainiac's Aren't All That Bad – Chapter 8 – Final**

After the dance party John crawled back through the air duct to the closet Vernon had locked him into earlier.

Andrew, Allison, Claire, Brian, and Erin were all sitting (in that order) on the railing.

"Brian?" Claire asked.

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Are you gonna write your paper?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, it's kinda a waste for all of us to write our paper, don't you think?"

"Oh, but that's what Vernon wants us to do."

"True, but I think we'd all kinda say the same thing."

"You just don't want to write your paper, right?"  
"True, but you're the smartest, right?"

Brian straightened up with pride. "Oh, well..."  
"Hey!" Erin exclaimed in offense.

Claire jokingly rolled her eyes. "Besides Erin, you're the smartest, Brian. We trust you."

Brian glanced at Allison and Andrew, they both nodded. "Yeah." Andrew said.

Brian looked over at Erin. She said, "_You're_ the smartest... and I was struggling earlier. I trust you." She nodded with a smile.

"All right, I'll do it." Brian said.

"You're amazing, Brian." Claire grabbed his shoulder and gave him a kiss on his cheek. Brian's eyes went wide and he fell forward in a daze to stumble to his chair and write the essay.

Claire looked at Allison and Allison silently looked back. Claire laughed and pulled on Allison's sleeve. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Allison asked.

"Come on!" Claire insisted. They both jumped down from the railing and left the library.

After a minute Erin jumped down from the railing and started walking to the library door.

"What are you doing?" Andrew asked.

Erin stopped and looked back at Andrew. "I'm not sure..." she gave a nervous chuckle and left the library.

Erin walked across the hall to Mr. Vernon's office. She saw him sitting there at his desk with his head in his hands looking at some papers but seeming to be nodding off. Erin lightly knocked on the door and asked, "Mr. Vernon, sir?"

Vernon shook himself awake and sniffed. He looked around and once he caught sight of Erin in the doorway he rubbed his eyes. "Oh, Harley... What do you want?"

"It's almost time to go, sir. Would it be all right, if I let John out of the closet?"

Vernon sunk back down in his chair and waved his hand at her. "Go, ahead, Harley. Go ahead..."

Erin smiled and said, "Thank you, sir."

Vernon nodded lightly, slipping back into semi-consciousness, not even thinking about how Erin knew that John was locked in a closet.

John had told Erin about the closet Vernon had locked him into and where it was. Erin found the closet and took a deep breath before unlocking the door and opening it.

John looked up at the sound of the lock. He crossed his arms with a small smirk on his face when he saw Erin come through the door and close it.

"You lost?" he asked.

Erin could only stare back at him. She had no idea what she was doing there.

John smiled. Erin nervously smiled back.

John chuckled and looked away. Erin nervously stepped toward him and kissed his neck. When she looked up at him his eyes were wide.

"Why'd you do that?" he asked.

"'Cause I knew you wouldn't." She answered.

"You know how you said before, about how you have school and your mom and your dad to worry about all the time? Wouldn't I be outstanding in that capacity?"

Erin smiled lightly then asked, "Have you been 'considering' me as one of your girlfriends all day today?"  
"Truth?"

"Truth."

John shook his head and spoke at the same time. "Yes."

After Erin had let John out of the closet the two of them walked back to the library together, exchanging glances and smiling. When they returned they saw Andrew and Allison talking over by the railing.

"Whoa, Allison..." Erin said. Allison looked up at her. The girl's hair was pushed back and you could see her face. She was much prettier than she had seemed before. "You look so pretty!" Erin exclaimed.

Allison glanced down with a smile. "Thank you." She said and returned to her conversation with Andrew.

Erin walked to her desk to start packing up her stuff and John followed her. Erin smiled when she saw Claire sitting at Brian's table, the both of them reading over what Brian had written for their essay. Once Claire had finished she looked up at Brian with a smile.

"It's great." she told him.

"You think so?" Brian asked.

"Yeah..." Claire bit her lip and placed her hand on the back of Brian's neck. Erin bumped John's leg with her hip and they watched as Claire pulled Brian in for a kiss while Brian sat there in wide-eyed shock until his eyes slipped closed. Claire ended the kiss and gave a small smile to Brian who couldn't see it because his eyes were still closed.

"Nice job, Brian." John said, which made Brian's eyes fly open and his face go red.

Erin laughed and swatted playfully at John's arm.

At four o'clock the group gathered their stuff together and left the library. Claire and Brian holding hands and leading the group, then Andrew and Allison, and Erin and John. They passed by Carl and Brian smiled at him with a nod of his head.

"See ya, Brian." Carl said.

"Hey, Carl..." Brian said in return.

As John and Erin passed by the janitor they grinned, "See you next Saturday!" they said together.  
"You bet!" Carl called after him.

Claire and Brian exited the school's doors and Brian panicked when he saw his father's car. Claire and Brian walked down the school's steps together until they reached the bottom and faced each other.

"You know, we really shouldn't- I mean, my dad, he's right there and- he'll tell my mom-"

Claire silenced him by covering his mouth with hers. Brian melted into relaxation and when they parted his eyes were glazed over.

"See you Monday?" he asked, his voice breaking slightly.

Claire chuckled and bit her lip. "Yeah... see you, Monday." She watched Brian get into his car then waved to everybody else and jogged to her father's BMW.

Erin stopped at the bottom of the school's steps and John stopped next to her. She watched as Andrew and Allison kissed and Allison ripped a patch from his jacket with a small smile. Then Allison backed up until she bumped into her car and got in. Then Andrew got into his car and his dad drove him away.

The parking lot was empty.

Erin glanced around, she hadn't expected her dad to be on time, he rarely was. She looked over at John and gave a small smile. "He's on his way, he's just late." John nodded and Erin smiled, "C'mere." she beckoned. John gave her a look and sauntered closer and Erin burst into laughter. "No! Geez, you weirdo, it's not anything like that..."

John watched her silently as she reached up and began parting his hair into sections on the left side. Then she started to braid it. He didn't mind in the least. Sure, it felt weird with the kind of air he put on to have a braid in his hair, but it was something Erin was giving him, and he was a-okay with that.

Once she was finished she held onto the end of the braid and started digging through her bag. After a moment of struggle she sighed and asked, "Can you hold this for a sec?" John nodded and held onto the end of the braid so Erin could use both hands to find whatever she needed. She lifted her head when she saw a green car pull up. She waved her hand at the car and bent her head to look through her bag again. Finally she pulled out a small box filled with tiny black rubber bands. "I carry 'em around... just in case..." she explained as she tied off the end of the braid with one of the black bands. When she was finished she put the box back in her bag and looked up at John. "Is it okay?" she asked.

John reached up and felt the braid. It was loose and smooth. He smiled, "Yeah... I like it..."  
They stared at each other for a long moment. Then John gently cupped Erin's cheek and brought her closer to him. She held onto the arms of his jacket and closed her eyes, more prepared for this kiss now than the one they were almost going to share earlier. They're mouths connected and they shared a long and sensual kiss. Once it ended Erin's cheeks were bright red. They both stared silently at each other for a moment before Erin let go of him and began walking backward toward her car. She watched John at the school's steps as she got in her car and drove away. She didn't look over at her dad until John was only a speck on the rear view mirror. When she finally looked over at her father he was already looking at her, his eyebrow raised quizzically.

"Who was that?" he asked.

"A... um... a boy I've liked for a while."

"Ahh..." her father said and smiled at her. "I'm happy then."

Erin smiled, understanding.

Mr. Vernon entered the library, his feet shuffling slightly on the carpet as he was still groggy from the long Saturday he had to spend in this school. He looked around at all of the desks, hoping to find a finished essay on all of them but, of course, there was only a single piece of paper in the place Brian Johnson had sat. With a tired sigh, Mr. Vernon walked to the table and picked up the paper. He was confused to see only a single paragraph written on the paper and decided to read it now rather than wait.

"Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you're crazy for making us write an essay telling you who we think you are. You see us as you want to see us. In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each of us is a brain, an athlete, and a basket case, a princess, a brainiac, and a criminal. Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, The Breakfast Club."

Erin leaned her head against the window of her father's car as they drove home, an excited smile growing on her lips. She couldn't wait to find out what fun they were going to have next Saturday.

**Sincerely yours, littlemonalisaliar.**


End file.
